The Teaching History with Technology Newsletter
(Fall 2007)

The THWT Newsletter offers resources, lesson plans, and tech tips to help history and social studies teachers incorporate technology effectively into their courses. To subscribe to this newsletter click the Membership link at the top of this page.

The THWT newsletter is produced by Tom Daccord and Justin Reich. Tom is a veteran history teacher and an academic technology specialist for the Humanities. Mr. Daccord has been featured in the Boston Globe ("Making Tech Connect" December 29, 2003) for his contributions to teaching with technology. Justin is a doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His editorials on school life and technology have been featured in the Providence Journal, the Worcester Telegram and Gazette and the Christian Science Monitor. Together they direct the Center for Teaching History With Technology, which publishes the Best of History Web Sites and Teaching Literature & Writing With Technology.

In this edition:

• Custom Workshop Series
• Book Updates- A sneak peak at the Table of Contents
• A Renewed Commitment to our Blog
• New Section in THWT.org: United Streaming
• New Web Sites for Teachers

Center for Teaching History with Technology announces our 2007-2008 Custom Workshop Series!

Once again this year, Tom and Justin will be available for presenting custom designed presentations and workshops for schools, on a variety of topics, including

• Smart Web Searching for Teachers and Students
• Building the Collaborative Classroom with Blogs and Wikis
• Teaching with Multimedia- Easy Projects with Audio and Video
• Making PowerPoint Engaging- turning presentations into lessons
• Improving Writing with Word’s hidden features
• Teaching with New and Emerging Technology
• Managing the Laptop Classroom
• And Many Others!!

Our presentations and workshops have been enthusiastically received by a wide range of teachers: public and private; middle school, high school, and higher ed; History, Social Studies, English, and Language Arts; novices and advanced users. Click on the links to the right to learn more!

More Information on Our Two Forthcoming Book Titles

The Center for Teaching History with Technology is expecting to release two titles in this academic year: The Best of History Web Sites and The Teacher's Guide to Teaching History and English with Technology.

The Best of History Web Sites is a print compilation of the Web resources and annotations from our Best of History Web Sites (www.besthistorysites.net), and it also includes two introductory chapters on tips for locating the best resources on the Web and integrating them into the history classroom. The book is due out from Neal-Schuman press sometime this fall, and can already be pre-ordered at Amazon.com!

The Teacher's Guide to Teaching History and English with Technology is loaded with tips and tutorials for Social Studies and Language Arts teachers. The book is organized around the kinds of activities teachers do, with chapters on Lectures, Discussion and Communication, Note-Taking, Guided Inquiry, Open Research, Homework, Writing, Student Presentations, Grading and Assessment, and Class Management. The book is due out from M.E. Sharpe press sometime in early 2008. Be on the look out for sample chapters, coming soon!.

A Renewed Commitment to Our Blog

We've had a blog for quite some time at http://thwt.typepad.com/edtechteacher/, but with our two print writing projects behind us, we're hoping we can blog much more reguarly. Already in the last months there have been posts on Teaching Geography, United Streaming, and The Golden Compass. Be Sure to come visit!

New Section of Teaching History with Technology!

We have a new page devoted to using Discovery Education's United Streaming Service, which allows you to stream and download a wide variety of film and film clips to your computer- searchable by subject area, grade level and even by state standard correlation. Ray Blair of Battleground Academy has all kinds of tips and tricks for making the most of their service.

Visit www.thwt.org/unitedstreaming.html to learn more about teaching with Discovery Education's United Streaming.

 

Great New Web Sites and Updates for History Teachers

It's often the case that we learn about many more Web sites than we have time to post to our sites, Teaching History with Technology (www.thwt.org) and The Best of History Web Sites (www.besthistorysites.net).

Iraq and the War on Terror
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/terror/
Iraq and the War and Terror represents a collection of over 40 Frontline web sites that provide in-depth reports on the War on Terror from 9/11 through the recent troop surge in Iraq. Most of the web sites feature extended Frontline video as well as detailed timelines, interviews of key participants, expert analysis, and a discussion forum. This one page is a gateway to outstanding reports on the war in Iraq.

Chronicling America: Historic Newspapers
http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/home.html
This site is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress and allows you to search and read newspaper pages from 1900-1910 as well as find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. You can search newspaper pages by state and also by newspaper directory. Once you find a page, you can zoom in on it as well as download it and print it.  Mind you, the current selection of newspapers is limited. Chronicling America is a long-term effort to develop an Internet-based, searchable U.S. newspapers and ultimately will contain historically significant newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 from all states and U.S. territories.

PBS Teachers
http://www.pbs.org/teachers
PBS Teachers is a portal for pre-K-12 educators that features thousands of free lesson plans, classroom activities, interactive resources and more -- organized by subject, grade level, and curriculum topic.  PBS Teachers provides information and professional development opportunities on effective ways to use media and technology. PBS Teachers also provides a reference guide for educators on Copyright Law & Fair Use. Each month, PBS Teachers delivers a new selection of books and web sites in various disciplines recommended for teachers.

Religion and the Founding of American Republic
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/overview.html
Part of a special exhibit by the Library of Congress, this site provides an interesting mix of images, primary text, and background information on the role of religion in the European settlement of America. The "America as a Religious Refuge: The 17th Century" section looks at the religious persecution in Europe that drove so many to British North America where settlers often established colonies often centered on passionate religious convictions.

The Internal Workings of the Soviet System
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/intn.html

A Library of Congress Soviet Archives Exhibit, this detailed section covers the Lenin/Stalin regimes. It includes information on the secret police, the great terror, forced labor camps, collectivization/industrialization, religion, and more. Primary source documents are integrated into the pages. A great breadth of information.

Course Models: The Beginnings of Civilization in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Kush
http://www.history.ctaponline.org/center/hsscm/index.cfm?Page_Key=1432
This detailed course model is produced in collaboration with the California Department of Education and is aimed at sixth graders. As part of the unit students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Kush. Teachers can download the entire unit and a bibliography with annotations of the works cited in this unit is found in
the resources section at the end of the unit.

Acropolis360
http://www.acropolis360.com/
Acropolis360 is a full screen 360 degree virtual tour of the Athens Acropolis containing maps, 3D reconstructions, 360 degree QuickTime panoramas, text information, sounds, music, and voice commentary.

Ramayana
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/moynihan/programs/sac/Outreach/ramayana/oral.asp
The Ramayana provides insights into many aspects of Indian culture. This site includes a brief (and long) synopsis of the Rama story as well as many images, such as the "God Posters" or images of Hindu gods in the style of popular Indian posters and calendars. Consider the five lessons on "Moral Dilemmas." They include useful questions for the classroom to help students understand the moral dilemmas in the story and define outcomes and consequences. There is also an article on The Oral Tradition and the Many "Ramayanas."

Slave Kingdoms
http://www.pbs.org/wonders/Classrm/lesson3.htm
Ghana was the first European sub-Saharan slave port, and some scholars say that the African trade routes could not have started without the support of Ghana's ruling class. One of America's leading scholars on African American culture and history retraces his family roots to Ghana and explores the psychological impact of the slave trade on his identity as an African American. Create a newspaper about Ghana's history, culture, and role in the slave trade.

Brief Review in Global History and Geography: Document Based Essays and Practice Tests
http://www.phschool.com/curriculum_support/brief_review/global_history/
PH@School's Brief Review in Global History and Geography Web site provides multiple-choice questions from actual Regents exams. You can also practice your test-taking skills on document-based essay questions (DBQs), with the option of e-mailing answers directly to a teacher for review.

Voicethread
http://www.voicethread.com
VoiceThread is a free, Web-based service that enables members to upload pictures, record accompanying audio commentary, and invite others to add commentary as well. VoiceThreads are hosted free of charge at VoiceThread.com and can be embedded in blogs, wikis, and other types of Web sites. There are many educational possibilities with a VoiceThread. For example, students can analyze historically significant photographs. A class can create virtual tours of places or events they are studying. Photography students could present and explain their work and artists could upload and describe their drawings. A teacher can create a photo tutorial and use the pen tool to draw lines and arrows on an image. VoiceThread can even be used as a means to debate a topic. For instance, students could analyze photographs of the crisis in Darfur. You might also want to use VoiceThread to share holiday, wedding, and other special event pictures and commentary with family and friends. In all, it is a great, easy-to-use tool.

Google Bans Ads from Essay Writing Services
http://campustechnology.com/articles/48284
Google plans to ban advertisements for essay-writing services to help in cutting down on campus plagiarism. In the announcement, Google said it would "disallow ad texts and sites that promote academic paper-writing services and the sale of pre-written essays, theses and dissertations." The ban is in response to criticism that Google was encouraging students to engage in plagiarism. Read more from this online Campus Technology article.